Holy Family Catholic Church has moved one step closer in its long quest to build a permanent church in American Canyon and move out of the retail center it has called home for years.

The American Canyon Planning Commission last Thursday approved a Conditional Use Permit for development of a 10,000-square-foot, single‐story church that will be located just off Antonina Avenue.

“It looks like a great project, and we’re excited for you,” said Vice Chair Bernie Zipay after the commission approved the permit 3-0. Chair Eric Altman and Commissioner Crystal Mallare were absent from the Nov. 16 meeting.

The parish, which has grown from fewer than 20 people in its early years to about a thousand today, has been seeking a church of its own for 23 years.

Holy Family has been a part of American Canyon since 1994, just after the city’s incorporation two years earlier.

But it has had to make do with leasing space in various parts of the city, while trying to raise enough money to build a church.

Attorney Ralph Andino, a parishioner and the church’s legal representative, said, “We’ve had services in a number of the local public schools including several years in the gym of the American Canyon Middle School.”

Since 2012, Holy Family has been located at 101 Antonina Ave. in a small commercial center along with a bakery and other businesses. The parish has “tripled in size since moving into our current location,” according to Andino.

They purchased five acres of undeveloped land in 1997, just behind its current location, to build a church.

With the approval of a Conditional Use Permit, Holy Family intends to begin “construction as soon as the weather permits in the upcoming year,” said Andino.

The new church would consist of two buildings: a 6,000-square foot worship and social hall, and a 4,000-square-foot administration building with meeting rooms.

The worship and social hall would include a 64-foot tall steeple and a 3,110- square-foot church sanctuary.

The congregation also plans to have four, 320-square-foot shipping containers on the south portion of the site for storage.

A parking lot with 73 automobile spaces and nine bicycle spaces is also part of the plan, along with landscaping and a stormwater retention area on the property.

Part of the church’s land might someday house a new segment of Main Street, which the city hopes to extend southward to Donaldson Way in the future.

The church has agreed to dedicate a 50‐foot easement so Main Street could go through the property as part of the city’s Broadway District Specific Plan.